G.R. No.

L-31227 May 31, 1974

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
ANTONIO SAVELLANO, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

Zosima Jenilla is a seventeen-year old girl. During her childhood Zosima was sickly. She was given injections and
medicines. For that reason, "she has a poor hearing" and was somewhat "abnormal".

Her mother sent her on an errand to the house of her elder sister. She passed the cornfield which was fifty meters away
from the house of Antonio Savellano, herein defendant-appellant, who is much taller than her and whom she had
known since childhood.

He was stealthily following her. Suddenly, he seized her from behind by holding her shoulders and neck. He dragged
her away from the trail to a place near a coconut palm in the cornfield near his house and forced her to lie down. She
resisted the assault by kicking, slapping and boxing Savellano and scratching him on the face but she succumbed to
the superior force employed by her assailant. After the sexual act, Savellano warned Zosima not to tell anybody what
he had done to her but the mother and daughter reported the incident to the barrio captain.

The municipal health officer examined Zosima. His finding that "the labia majora and minora do not show any distinct
sign of recent injury" means that Zosima "has not given birth". He said that "caruncula hymenales" means that the
hymen had been ruptured. The fact that two fingers could be inserted into the vagina without pain means that the girl
was no longer a virgin. The expression "insertions of hard object into the vagina" means that the vagina had been
expanded by a hard object like the penis.

the sanitary inspector examined Savellano and found that he had three or four scratches on the left cheek and neck

ISSUE: Whether or not the trial’s court decision convicting him of rape should be upheld.

RULING

YES, it should be upheld.

It is true that Savellano has only the full use of his left hand. He has a physical handicap because he has no right hand.
But the petite complainant, a teenager, is only four feet tall and used to be sickly, whereas, Savellano is five feet and
five inches tall and, as a young farmer, accustomed to manual labor, was quite strong. It is credible that, with his
physical superiority, he was able to overcome the resistance of the complainant and to have forcible carnal knowledge
of her.

It is not necessary that the force employed against the complaining woman in rape be so great or of such a character
as could not be resisted. It is sufficient that the force used is sufficient to consummate the culprit's purpose of
copulating with the offended woman. The force or violence necessary in rape is naturally a relative term, depending on
the age, size and strength of the parties and their relation to each other

The conduct of Zosima in reporting immediately to the barrio captain that she had been ravished negates appellant's
claim that she had voluntary sexual intercourse with him. As noted by the trial court, it is hard to believe that a
seventeen-year old unmarried girl like her would publicly disclose that she had been raped and thus sully her honor and
reputation in the community, would allow an examination of her private parts, and would undergo the trouble and
humiliation of a trial if her motive was not to bring to justice the person who had grievously wronged her